I have been boasting about our little girl's love for water - how she jumps without fear. She's been learning more and more tricks each passing week - without us teaching her. Here's a new one..
and another one..
A real copycat, right? Oh my, she's too proud of her new tricks!
The Gymnast
She's been attending baby gym classes with her nanny and here's another trick..
That's when we were waiting for her Papa to finish his 10-km Run for a Cause. Notice those people wearing pink shirts? All of them supporting the fight against Breast Cancer. I had the same shirt too! Louna had a Mickey Mouse stuff toy and she's happy for it.
This afternoon, we visited an Agricultural Fare not far from Dijon. Louna, the animal lover had a grand time caressing the rabbits. She had the luck to ride a tractor too!
I have this impression that this pregnancy goes faster than my first pregnancy. Or am I just a little too inattentive? My gynecologist asked us to get an appointment with the anaesthetist at the maternity clinic. Then with a midwife for my childbirth preparation courses. My reaction was - Déjà? That sounds too soon. Well, I'm not really preparing myself on giving birth yet. I'm still focused on something else. It might sound unfair to my second daughter but it's true that I talk a lot less about this pregnancy than what I did with Louna. Not that I ignore it but first pregnancy is a whole new experience so I had a lot of new stuffs to share. Whereas the second pregnancy is a sort of déjà vu. Well, sort of. I nonetheless savour every minute of this pregnancy, though it always ends up comparing it with the previous one.
So for a quick update, the little girl is moving a lot more than Louna at this stage of pregnancy. Louna was a sleeper and the hiccup girl. This little girl is a kick-boxer. She's pretty active and basing on the echography results, she's a bit bigger. Sleeping has been an ordeal these past two weeks. The baby bump is becoming heavier each day so I wake up each time I change sides and she's also able to wake me up in the middle of the night because of her kicks. So imagine when she's out.
She's weighing 1.10 kg now and the bulging Maman gained 9 kg since the start of pregnancy. So far, I'm practically following exactly the same weight gain curve as that of my first pregnancy so this doesn't really worry me a lot. I feel more tired though. Probably because I have a toddler to tend to and life has to move on as usual. I could hardly stand staying infront of the computer so excuse me for not bloghopping. Yesterday, I had my first incident of hypoglycemia at work. I was on training and it was probably over an hour that I was standing up while listening to instructions (infront of a machine so it was quite hard to take a seat). Then suddenly, I thought they stopped the airconditionning. I felt hot, started to transpire, wanted to vomit and go poop, had difficulty to focus on what was being said, my vision got blurred, and then... total blackout. Within that few seconds of malaise, I had the reflex to slowly glide on the wall so I could sit.. on the floor - in the presence of the supplier training us and few colleagues. I didn't care anymore about what they would say. I was pregnant anyway. I had the excuse. If I didn't do that, I probably fell directly on the floor.
With that incident, my gynecologist required me to eat salty breakfast instead of my regular café au lait and toasted bread topped with Nutella. So okay, I think I'll shift to Filipino breakfast starting tomorrow morning.
Aside from that one minute discomfort, everything else goes impeccably good - a little backache, a bit of fatigue, a moment of hormonal imbalance here and there.. life is good.
This update wouldn't be complete without a word about Louna, right? Oh, this talkative little girl could handle a conversation now. Errr, I mean, she could go monologue. Listen attentively and you'll know all about her.
Last weekend, we were again at the pool because Louna starts to claim for it. She loves being in the water. And more precisely, jumping from the edge of the pool. She also mastered turning around and swim from one end to the other (~10 meters) with the bicycle movement (she saw me doing aquagym).
At one moment, she tried to catch the attention of a lady with her sweet smiles. Once the lady looked at her, she said Louna, deux ans et démi (Louna, two and a half year old) with her hands raised showing her two fingers. Then she started to move out of the pool, looked at the lady and said Régarde (Look.). She quickly jumped onto the water, less than a meter away from the lady. After jumping, she immediately looked at the lady to make sure she was being watched and said Plouf dans l'eau (jumped onto the water). She continued by pointing at me and said C'est Maman, ça. Bébé, pétite soeur. (That's my Mom. She's got a baby, my little sister). And so on and so forth. In less than 5 minutes, there were already 4 adults around her listening to her stories and watching her jump.
It was the same scenario when I brought her with me in a bar (bars in France are now entirely no-smoking areas). She started to present herself and talk about what happened during the day.
Well, I try to explain to her that she sometimes need to wait till other people ask her. But that sounds too complicated to comprehend to a talkative toddler.
We're supposed to go to a theme park today but since it's raining outside, the plan was cancelled and we just stayed at home like couch potatoes. Good thing my parents anticipated a bit so we were nevertheless able to celebrate Papa's day yesterday.
I painted this picture frame with my Nanny and gave it yesterday morning to Papa. That was his breakfast treat. He was overwhelmed to notice that I could be an artist at my age. I was too proud when he said he would put it on his office table.
This gift was accompanied by a letter written by my Petite Soeur (Little Sister), with my approval and with the help of Maman, of course. I asked Papa if I could blog it here and he said it's okay. So here it is:
Dear Sir,
I wrote you this letter because I am in big trouble and I strongly believe that you’re the best person who could help me with the problem I face right now.
5 ½ months ago, I moved to a comfortable and spacious apartment owned by a charming lady. The contract was all inclusive – food, heater, etc. Everything I needed to live an ideal and stress-free life was cheerfully provided by the owner. I was actually starting to really love this cozy place until this problem.
Lately, I was apparently taking more and more space and my daily activities start to disturb the owner. I talked to her but as much as she wanted to keep me, she informed me that I needed to relocate on or before October 3 of this year for reasons too hard for me to comprehend. She also informed me that proper authorities would intervene in case I stay beyond this date. Not that she wanted to get rid of me. Apparently, we could get ourselves into big trouble if I don’t move.
The lovely lady was too kind though. She told me that she would watch over me till I finally settle down and get my independence and that I could always count on her.
This is the reason why I call your precious attention, Sir. I badly need a place to relocate and I’ve heard that you have rooms available. I would certainly need a lot of help and attention at the beginning because it’s always hard for me to adapt to new environment and new people. But I’m confident that you would help me deal with this situation. I promise to be a good tenant.
If it’s okay with you, I plan to pay you on a daily basis. Will a daily dose of love and happiness suit you? I know it’s not too much but I could add a lot of smiles which could surely help you forget your worries.
Hoping for your favorable response.
Love (oh yes, I already love you), Your Future Tenant
PS: The girl who gave me your name is Louna. She’s been a friend since I moved to this place and she fondly calls me PETITE SOEUR. She’s been staying with you for two and a half years now and she highly recommends your place. Two thumbs up, as she describes it. She also told me that I need to call you PAPA. She also advised me to greet you HAPPY FATHER’S DAY today!
See you soon.
Papa read it with full attention. Maman told him that it's a letter she saw in the mailbox that morning. At first, he was like shaking his head, thinking how could somebody he doesn't even know could have the nerves to ask such help? And we could even put ourselves into an unknown trouble if we do something (he read the first 3 paragraphs 3x, asking Maman if she knew the sender). Then, not really understanding the first 3 paragraphs, he continued reading the rest of the letter. As he went through it, a smile started to dawn on his face, looked at us, and told us how lovely the letter was. After that beautiful breakfast, we went to centre ville just to hang out. To each his own interest. While Papa was checking on laptop chargers and Maman on Ipod Speaker Systems (her gift to Papa), I was busying myself to other stuffs.
I then had a ride at the merry-go-round. yes, you read it right. One ride! Life isn't fair :(.
We then went to the market to buy some local produce. Maman was craving for some grilled fish, so grilled fish we had. It was supposed to be a garden lunch but the weather was too unstable so we finally had our lunch inside. We just picked some Cherries and Blackberries from the garden for dessert. These fruits are just too irresistible that I already ate a lot before even starting lunch.
After lunch, we headed to the swimming pool and look at what I could do now:
In fact, I saw a lot of kids doing the same so I tried. Maman was surprised I did it. I really had fun and did it a lot of times. Maman told me that we will surely go back especially that she could practice aquagym. She said it's good for her and my Petite Soeur. Yipeee! In fact, I could imitate her too. I was doing the bicycle exercise inside the water and Maman said that I finally understood what equilibrium means. I was doing great. She just reminded me not to jump into the water without my flotter.
That evening, Papa's friend went over and stayed with me while my parents went out for dinner. They said it's their anniversary, for whatever that means. It was my first time to stay alone at home with another person but I didn't really mind. This morning, they said they were proud of me for being a cool toddler. Oh well, I know I'm cool. And so what?
